the results are in. we know what happened today. we're focusing on what happens next. now that barack obama has won a second term as president of the united states. i'm suzanne malveaux at cnn's world headquarters in atlanta. >> i'm wolf blitzer in washington. this is cnn's special program, special coverage of america's choice 2012. we're bringing you the story behind the numbers. the demographic breakdown of the president's decisive victory and the implications for the republican party moving forward. >> we're also examining the challenges ahead for the president leading a divided nation and dealing with an immediate fiscal problem facing the country. and his victory speech, the president urged all americans to come together. he said what unites susbigger

than what divides us. >> i believe we can seize this future together because we are not as divided as our politics suggest. we're not as cynical as the pundits believe. we are greater than the sum of our individual ambitions, and we remain more than a collection of red states and blue states. we are and forever will be the united states of america. and together, with your help and god's grace, we will continue our journey forward and remind the world just why it is that we live in the greatest nation on earth. thank you, america. god bless you. god bless these united states. >> in his concession speech, mitt romney also called for both parties to come together. he said the nation is at a critical point. >> and we look to democrats and

republicans and government at all levels to put the people before the politics. i believe in america. i believe in the people of ameri america. and i ran for office because i'm concerned about america. this election is over, but our principles endure. i believe that the principles upon which this nation was founded are the only sure guide to a resurgent economy and to renewed greatness. >> this is cnn breaking news. >> breaking news. we are watching a major market sell-off at this hour. the dow falling more than 300

points. want to bring in alison kosik at the new york stock exchange. tell us what is happening. >> suzanne, the drop on the dow is certainly eye-popping at 314 points, but keep in mind the market is stabilizing now. but you do see the dow trading below 13,000 for the first time since early september. all 30 dow stocks are in the red. now investors are spooked less about what happened with the election and more about what's happening in europe. turns out germany's economy is slowing because of the debt crisis in europe and that expectation for slow growth you see that sending oil prices lower. more than 4% drop for oil prices. oil sitting at $85 a barrel right now. now i'm going to be back later in the hour. i'm also watching some certain sectors that are moving and that is because of the election. i'm going to have that coming up later in the hour. suzanne? >> alison, thank you. we're getting new information from florida right now. let's go right to john zarrella in miami watching the vote counting.

john, as our viewers know, we have not yet projected a winner in the state of florida, although as we all know, the president has been re-elected by our own projection. but what's the latest from miami? >> yeah, you know, wolf, we've been waiting primarily because the numbers in miami-dade county, which is the largest county in the state of florida, last night they sent the election workers home. they stopped counting. they were going to pick that up today. well, now, finally, we have all 829 precincts reporting. now, remember, there are still some absentee ballots that have not been counted and provisional ballots that won't be completely finished or counted before thursday or friday. but all 829 precincts are in. and the numbers are like this. the president, 521,000 and change votes. mitt romney, 317,382 votes. so the president doing very, very well and in fact, wolf if you compare these numbers back to 2008, the president

outperformed himself so far by over 20,000 votes. and in '08, john mccain had 360,000 votes in miami-dade. mitt romney only 317,000. so some pretty eye-popping numbers coming out of miami-dade as to how the president performed, as opposed to how mitt romney performed last night in the largest county in the state of florida. a lot of votes that they had to count last night which caused these huge delays. wolf? >> and these absentee ballots, the provisional ballots if you will? they will all be counted by when? what did you say? >> by thursday or friday. absentee ballots may all be done by this afternoon. those provisional ballots, probably thursday or friday is what the election supervisor's office is telling us. at some point we'll know who won the state of florida. an important historic footnote, a close race in florida,

obviously. >> we're going to keep a close eye on florida. the election is over but now the focus is on governing. >> president obama will tackle.y have some major issu working with congress to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff, possibly appointing another supreme court justice or maybe two. and choosing new people to fill key cabinet positions. >> joining us to talk about all of this, democratic strategist maria cardona, republican strategist alex castellanos and david gergen all with wolf in washington. good to see all of you. i want to start off reading two statements. this is from the republican leadership this morning. house speaker john boehner saying if there's a mandate, it is a mandate for both parties to find common ground and take steps together to help our economy grow and create jobs. then you have senate minority leader mitch mcconnell much less conciliatory here saying, the voters have not endorsed the failures or excesses of the president's first term. so alex, i'm going to start off

with you. i'm going to put you on the hot seat. the question being, how do republicans and this administration put aside the differences and get to the serious business of governing in this country to get something done? >> how do they put it aside? pretty easily. we're headed for the edge of the cliff. and i think both sides understand that. two big problems, as you said, one is growth. and i think john boehner is right about that. but the other one is debt. and both sides are going to have to give a little bit. there's going to be a window here where the political pressure on both sides to move to the middle is going to be intense. because both sides were tasked with this responsibility. the first one to back away from the table is going to pay a huge political price. so we do have a window here to get something done. the president also has, you know, and this is not about who gives more. this is about just looking at the geometry. the president is not up for

re-election again. congressmen are up every two years. they have less flexibility politically, and the president can look more generous. he can move, say, to the 51 yard line and ask republicans to come to the 49, and he can put incredible pressure on republicans to come to the middle if he moves first and is generous. that's the -- that, by the way is the best political obama. that's the guy who ran four years ago who said there's no red, no blue america. by the way, that's the one we saw last night. >> i want to bring in maria. what is that window the president has to reach out, and who is the one who should make the first play here in extending the olive branch? >> i think the president absolutely did that last night. he understands his win is not a mandate to ram down the throats of the american people whatever he wants. he understands that. in fact, i think he's always understood that. it is a mandate for people to come together. so i like what john boehner said. i hope that that is the mantel that republicans take on.

because i also think that while last night wasn't a mandate to do whatever the president wanted, it was a mandate for him, i think, to follow the message of his campaign. which was, look. the government does have a positive role to play. and if you look at the coalition that won this presidency again for obama, that latinos, african-americans, young women, these are all people that understand that government has a smart role to play, a good role to play. government is not the boogie man. doesn't mean they voted for big government. they vote forward smart government and that's something republicans need to understand. >> we're going to hear from john boehner later today. what are you going to be listening for? >> me? >> yes. >> okay. thanks, suzanne. i am going to be listening for -- going beyond platitudes about trying to meet somewhere and getting bipartisanship. what kind of structure are we getting? what kind of agreements should we be driving towards? huge drop in the stock market today is not only a reflection

on what's going on in europe but the widespread nervous innocence the business community that if we don't deal with this fiscal cliff in a serious and urgent way, we could well have a recession next year. so there's pressure coming from the markets as well as voters for these sides to come together. i do think that -- i, frankly, think we'll not go over the cliff. people in washington are often dumb but they're not crazy. and they understand the stakes. if we go over the cliff. but i think the big question is, can they begin putting together the structure of a grand bargain that they would figure out all the details next year? can they postpone the cliff and give time for negotiations to start on that grand bargain. i think they go back to where boehner and the president were when their negotiations fell apart. is that the makings of a deal? >> wolf, you want to jump in? >> i think the big question, suzanne, is the simple one. who is going to blink.

will the democrats blink or the republicans blink? will the president blink? will john boehner, the speaker of the house blink? there's a fundamental issue and i'll ask alex if he wants to weigh in on this. the president says you have to raise revenues, which means you have to raise taxes on richer people, families making more than $250,000 a year, individuals making more than $200,000 a year. the republicans say they're not going to raise taxes. they promised grover norquist, they would not raise taxes. in order to avoid the fiscal cliff, one side is going to have to blink. who blinks? >> well, i think -- one thing we have to understand is you don't need republicans to be unanimous to get this done. john boehner just needs to deliver a few republicans to complement a fairly solid democratic bloc. john boehner has to back up the pickup truck to the house and haul away the problem. and it won't take that much to do. now the republicans are going to argue, wolf, that there's a difference between raising taxes and raising revenue. they're going to ask the democrats if you raise taxes you

might get less revenue. that has happened before. so any increase in revenue will have to be balanced with something that says this is growth. we'll want to plant more seed corn. we don't want to eat the seed corn. >> you heard, david, during the republican debates all the republican presidential candidates basically said, even if there were $10 in spending cuts for $1 in increased taxes, they would reject that. >> they did. and they were very hard about it. and, look, i think there's a danger. the greatest danger is to deal with the question of, are you going to raise taxes on the rich right away or not. and if you isolate it that way, somebody does have to blink. the president said i won't sign anything that doesn't come forward with that decoupling, as it's called. and boehner has said in the last two or three years, i won't pass anything that has that decoup decoupling. what you want to do is take that question and put it in the context of the bigger questions like what do we -- if we agree on tax reform, maybe we can give on this. if we can agree on some

entitlement reform, maybe we'll give on that. that's a much more productive way to get there. >> you can see the fundamental problem here what's at stake. both sides have sort of dug themselves into entrenched positions. they have until december 31st for all practical purposes, to get some sort of compromise. >> we are waiting to see whether or not the new president with this new congress which looks very much like status quo will be able to get something done. from our viewers across the globe, we're gauging world reaction to the election of president obama. the response overall has been positive. in jerusalem, tony blair told cnn he's eager to get back to work with the u.s. president on solving the israeli/palestinian conflict. >> i think the re-election of president obama gives us a great chance, a huge opportunity, actually, to move things forward here. we know we've got huge turmoil and revolution in this region. syria, iran, problems all over. but this issue here, and we're standing right here in jerusalem

now between the israelis and the palestinians it remains of fundamental importance. >> for more reaction on the world's leaders, christiane amanpour joins us from new york. good to see you, of course, as always. you know, we know the president has a really complicated relationship with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu and has not always been smooth sailing here. and it's no secret that he was rooting for mitt romney this go-around in the election. we've seen a statement from netanyahu. how has he responded? what kind of influence do you think the president has now in terms of dealing with him? >> well, mr. netanyahu, the prime minister, has sent a congratulations to president obama on his re-election and talking about secure and strong relationship between both countries and willingness to keep work with the united states president. on the issue tony blair was talking about, israeli/palestinian peace process, there's been no movement on that for the better

part of a year and there's no indication that will be a priority in a second term. of course, even the leaders of the palestinians and the israelis there are not, you know, showing they are ready to get back to the bargaining table. so that's going to be an issue because it still is something that really affects the whole dynam nick that region. on iran, which has been a very contentious issue, not just regionally but, of course, between the prime minister, netanyahu and the united states, obama administration, that also, we're going to see how that plays out. as you know there's been this whole debate and dilemma over whether there's to be a military solution to iran's nuclear program or whether negotiations and somehow these sanctions and diplomacy can work out. there was word from a senior iranian foreign policy adviser to the highest leadership there who i've interviewed in the past today saying that talks between the u.s. and iran are not taboo and also on syria, of course, which is important for israel and important for that region. there is a huge amount of work

to be done because both president obama and mitt romney had basically said and have carved out the position that president assad must go. but they are doing nothing, certainly not u.s. administration has done nothing to make sure that that happens. and so that could leave the u.s. a little bit exposed to charges of weakness. and today his closest pal if you like, british prime minister david cameron, who was the first to congratulate president obama, said that he really wants to talk to, quote, barack, to figure out how to solve the syrian crisis. >> a lot to come. thanks, christiane. president obama might have won re-election last night but he lost the white house by 20 points. we're going to talk about the changing face of america. what it means for the future of both parties. >> it doesn't matter whether you're black or white or hispanic or asian or native american or young or old or rich or poor, abled, disabled, gay or

straight, you can make it here in america if you are willing to try.

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we're back with our political panel talking about the challenges ahead for the president's second term. democratic strategist maria cardona here in atlanta. >> here with the, alex castellanos and david gergen. suzanne? >> let's talk about the president, he won a coalition of americans. we're talking about women, blacks la, tinos, gays and moderates. winning 71% of the latino vote nationally. 60% in florida. how did he get these groups? he got these groups together by offering each group something, whether it was lilly ledbetter act for equal pay, same-sex marriage or executive order that was like a dream act-like. how does he keep this coalition together and eventually govern a broad wide range of groups with bearing interests.

i'll begin with you marx rhea. >> i think it goes to what republicans need to understand about what happened last night as well. you know, we're talking about all these cliffs that we are facing as a nation. i think the republican party is standing on the cliff of political oblivion. if they don't really understand what happened last night with latinos, with african-americans, with women, with young people. this is the new face of america. america isn't changing. it's already changed. and i think last night proved that. and in terms of what the president needs to do to continue to hold this coalition together, if you look at all the things he talked about with the disparate groups, the lilly ledbetter, the dream act on immigration and, you know, the young people with the student loans, what is that all about? it's all about economic security done with fairness. it's all about understanding that you need to treat people humanely and you need to treat people fairly and you need to treat people like they are human beings. >> alex, what do you think? >> well, it's hard for me to argue against maria that the new

ascended coal cision growing in the democratic party of young people and hispanics and single professional women, especially since i are one. so, yeah, i think the reality of it is obvious, but i think, you know, republican party, the republican party of jack kemp and ronald reagan was not a no party. it was not an anti-party. it was a party of yes. it was a party of opportunity for everyone. and the difference i think republicans and the democrats have made the argument, government will give you more. republicans will give you less government. the republican argument is, look, we can help you with an economy that's going to give you more. because the government is running out of cash. and we weren't very optimistic and inclusive about this. we need to be a party that not only has strong hands and is firm on our principles but has a big heart and explains that that's open to everybody. >> do you think one of the first things the president should do

is offer comprehensive immigration reform? >> i think he needs to deal with the budget first, but i think immigration ought to be right behind it. i'm much more optimistic now we're going to have some sort of comprehensive reform in the next couple of years because he will continue to press it. democrats will press it. and now republicans need it. and maria is right. the republicans have to find a way to deal with it. one of the most striking things from voters was the overwhelming majority of people wanted to find some path to citizenship for those who are here and reject the deportation of the policy that the republicans were putting forward. mitt romney was putting forward and that's very, very important. politicians do need to respect the voices of voters. now i actually think that president obama has an opportunity here that he didn't seem to have after the last election. and everybody thought that he would draw upon the youth and others in his new coalition to help him govern. and that didn't work out very

well. they weren't able to develop social media and that sort of thing. the fact that somebody came back out last night, that that coalition stuck together in such great numbers, and they seem now to be willing to sign up and let's go to work on behalf of the president. that could help him in governing. >> wolf? >> he's got some major issues that he has to deal with, including his cabinet because as you know, he's got a secretary of state, hillary clinton, who says she's only going to serve until the end of this first term. he's got a secretary of the treasury, timothy geithner who says he's only going to serve until the end of this term. maria, who do you think is going to be the next secretary of state? >> i don't think i'm going to go down that road, wolf. >> i'll tell you. i'll give you two names and you tell me what you think. john kerry, who helped the president in the debates, the chairman of the senate foreign relations committee. i'm sure he would like to be secretary of state. and susan rice, the u.s. ambassador to the united nations. i have no doubt she would like to be secretary of state. what do you think?

>> i think both of those, wolf, would be absolutely spectacular. i think john kerry did a fabulous job this election and in terms of really focusing on what the president's agenda has been and will continue to be. i think susan rice is also a very valuable member of the president's cabinet. i would love to see her be secretary of state, as i think a lot of americans out there would. so i think that he's got some terrific people to choose from. but i also would posit this. maybe not for secretary of state but in terms of as you see all these cabinet positions being reshuffled, i might get some hate mail from my democratic friends about this, but maybe he should think about appointing another republican. and so that way -- >> anyone in mind? >> i don't. >> he did, you know -- >> but that would be something that goes to this bringing people together. >> you did have -- we'll bring alex and david into this. he did have -- ray lahood is his

secretary of transportation. he's a republican from illinois. bob gates was his secretary of defense. he was a republican. it's probably a pretty good idea, although i'm not necessarily convinced he's going to name a republican to either be secretary of the treasury or secretary of state. >> look what the president did last night in his speech. he said he was going to call mitt romney in the next few weeks and talk about how to move forward together. that was incredibly generous and also incredibly smart politically. if he begins to go that way, last time he's elected president, he immediately moves to the left, health care, lots of spending. if he does what he maybe started doing last night it will help him politically, strengthen him politically and also be -- >> as you know, who he picks as secretary of the treasury to replace timothy geithner will have a powerful message to wall street, the business community, the international community. he could go bold. >> he could go bold. that's not what one has been hearing in washington, as you well know. we've been hearing more a game

of musical chairs and they'll bring somebody from inside the administration. jack liu. >> the white house chief of staff? >> he's a very smart guy. >> he's a very smart guy and has been involved with budget negotiations for years. the theory is that the treasury job this next four years ago less about international than about domestic progress and jack lew suited for that. as soon as the president talked about mitt romney and called him up, the social media, what about appointing mitt romney as secretary of commerce. wouldn't that be interesting? i think it's probably a nonstarter but it does emphasize he needs a -- >> the president suggested the other day, maybe creating a new secretary of business and consolidating all of those departments into one new department. lots to dissect. lots to digest, suzanne. >> wolf, maria and i were just speculating on that very thing. what if mitt romney was in that cabinet and he brought in hillary clinton. kept her close to his side. could be part of the strategy.

>> lincoln did it. >> absolutely. if you ask the pundits in florida it was the state that smashed mitt romney's hopes for the white house. after seven-hour wait lines, thrown-out ballots, reports of broken voting machines, there are still huge questions about the final tally there. capella university understands rough economic times have led to an increase in clinical depression. drug and alcohol abuse is up. and those dealing with grief don't have access to the professional help they need. when you see these issues, do you want to walk away or step up? with a degree in the field of counseling or psychology from capella university, you'll have the knowledge to make a difference in the lives of others. let's get started at capella.edu

americans have weighed in on several important ballot initiatives. take a look at this. for the first time, voters in maine ark proved a measure giving same-sex couples the right to marry. and maryland voters also made history by upholding a new law legalizing same-sex marriage in maryland. minnesota voters rejected a ban on same-sex marriage. a similar measure in washington state is still, at least for now, too close to call. it's the first time voters have approved same-sex marriage as in the past only judges and state legislators legalized those united nations. legalizing marijuana, by the way, another issue on the ballot in several states. voters in washington state and colorado approved the recreational use of marijuana. but a similar measure in oregon was rejected. a critical part of president obama's health care reform law

was on the line in several states, alabama and wyoming backed measures amending their state constitutions to ban people from being forced to buy health insurance and early results suggest montana voters may follow suit. but look at this. florida has rejected a similar challenge to obama care. >> women were winning the senate seats in record numbers last night as well. we'll look at the new balance of power on capitol hill. ♪

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republicans dominate with 232 seats and democrats have 192. so the balance of power still split with republicans holding on to the majority in the house. the democrats keeping control in the senate. dana bash is joining us from washington to talk about some of the big challenges ahead in this divided congress. >> one of the big challenges right now is not necessarily ahead, it's right now. is the whole question of the fiscal cliff. the positioning has start started to happen. the senate majority leader harry reid who is still going to be the senate majority leader. it looks like they've picked up a seat in the senate, he has come before reporters and been careful not to draw a line in the sand but to embrace republicans and say please come to the table. let's talk about the best way to do this.

>> it's better to dance than to fight. it's better to work together. everything doesn't have to be a fight. everything doesn't have to be a fight. that's the way it's been the la couple of years. so everyone should comprehend especially my senate friends that legislation is the art of compromise is consensus building. >> so you can pretty easily see suzanne, his tactic there trying to kind of shame republicans into coming his way and what we're talking about here on the substance is democrats feel that they have a pretty much a mandate to do what president obama vowed he was going to do, which is let the tax cuts for the wealthiest americans expire. take that trillion dollars or so, put that towards deficit reduction and republicans were going to hear from the house speaker john boehner in about 2 1/2 hours. you can expect him to say similar remarks to what's he

said last night which is they're not going to agree to what they can call a tax increase. so the positioning has begun and there's another time before this deadline hits at the end of the year. >> we also want to mention women having a big impact. we're talking about exit polls showing a majority of them, 55% voting for president obama. wolf? >> that's a major gender divide. there's also some racial divides out there. also some more major upsets. we're getting a closer look at what last night's election results could mean for the future of politics in america. d. when a twinge of back pain surprises him. morning starts in high spirits, but there's a growing pain in his lower back. as lines grow longer, his pain continues to linger. but after a long day of helping others, he gets some helpful advice. just two aleve have the strength to keep back pain away all day. today, jason chose aleve.

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whether i earned your vote or not, i have listened to you. i have learned from you, and you've made me a better president. with your stories and your

struggles, i return to the white house more determined and more inspired than ever about the work there is to do and the future that lies ahead. >> president obama looking ahead to four more years in the white house. decisive re-election victory last night points to what this country is becoming. the racial ethnic and generational changes that have altered the electoral landscape. joining s ining us is mike alle politico. you had winners and losers from last night. let's go through some of the winners. who won? >> well, one of the winners, of course, is david axelrod's mustache. they won pennsylvania decisively as they won just about every swing state decisively. ohio was two points but every other one was four, five, six, seven, eight points. the romney folks weren't even

close. i can tell you republicans i'm talking to today are shellshocked by how blue the map was and what a deep blue it was. florida isn't called. north carolina was close. ohio was close. all the other ones decisive obama. >> you had another winner, the polls, nate silver of the "new york times." the polls were pretty accurate, despite all the criticism they were getting, largely from republicans and some of who were projecting these polls were distorted, biased toward the republicans. they were projecting a landslide for the gop for mitt romney. the polls did pretty well last night, didn't they? >> they were spot on, wolf. and this reflects something i learned in 2004 when i was covering president bush for "the washington post." he was in the race with john kerry and the press kept saying it was tied. the press always said it was in the margin of error. you went back and looked at the polls after the election and, yes it was in the margin of

error, but every single poll had president bush ahead slightly. what i learned from that is that any given poll may be wrong. lots of polls may be wrong, but every poll wasn't wrong and what -- that's what the romney folks were counting on. and it's partly understandable. a lot of these polls were baking in a roughly 2008 voter turnout. we sort of thought that was a once in a lifetime sort of thing. it turns out it isn't. as you said at the top, not only did president obama keep his coalition together, he expanded it. talked to a polling analyst today who had some shocking figures for me about ohio. not only was african-american turnout in ohio higher than in 2008, it was higher than the percentage of the population. and, wolf, listen to this. if african-american turnout in ohio yesterday had been what it was in 2008, romney would have won. so that really crystallizes how

much demographics can matter, how much mechanics can matter in a campaign that has the resources, the skills to turn out every last one of their voters. here in virginia, voters were telling me that democrats in line were being checked in by an obama volunteer who had a tablet keeping track of their voters. the republicans i talked to, nobody was checking them in. >> what about losers because you got some great losers here. i put some of them superpacs, millionaires and billionaires. the bush map. michael baron, a republican, conservative analyst. who else were the big losers? i saw you had donald trump in there as well. >> yeah, donald trump got nothing for all his attention on the president's resume, the president's college records. but, wolf, this superpacs, the millionaires, billionaires, that's going to be a big story.

these outside groups on the republican side invested close to a billion dollars. so that's separately from the campaign, separately from the republican party, these outside groups, close to a billion dollars. and what did they get for it? very little. now what they will tell you is that if they hadn't been spending at the time that the obama campaign was, that mitt romney would have fallen off a cliff in some -- in the summer. instead, he fell off a cliff in the fall. was i really that much better. if you are one of those donors, are you really that happy about it. there's a lot of flack about it as a result of this. i think there will be some new groups and some new power centers around washington. because the republican leaders that are in place now clearly made some mistakes. they are talking even today about how they can change it. for instance, on the senate side where they wound up with a couple of these un-electable candidates. candidates who said a couple of

stupid things and were not the most skilled candidates to begin with. they are looking at new ways to make sure they can get -- encourage more electable candidates through money, through events. the party bosses in washington, as they could be called back home. but they may look to outside groups to do that. party leaders recognize that they need to have a little more control over who their candidates are or they are going to keep losing these unlosable races. >> like in indiana, missouri. this time two years ago in maryland and colorado, in nevada, for example. they had a relatively easy win. but they, obviously, didn't materialize. hey, mike, thanks as usual for joining us. mike allen from politico. >> wolf, thank you for your great coverage. >> suzanne? >> a cough election battle, but president obama is already staring down what may be the biggest challenge of his second term. we're talking about keeping the country from going over that imagine living your life

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the uncertainty of the election is over, but the fiscal cliff, these are the automatic budget cuts and the expiring tax breaks looming in january. well, those things creating some uncertainty with the stock market alison kosik joins us fe new york stock exchange. tell us, how are the world markets responding the day after election and we'll talk about specifics. >> these losses we're seeing on the dow with the dow down 29 points, these losses are a pit eye-popping, stocks are off their lows and the losses are stabizing. a little irony for you. did you know the dow dropped 486 points after election day in 2008? but, remember, back then, we were right in the middle of the financial crisis. the markets were certainly in a hairy time. still, this is the biggest post-election drop since obama was elected the first time. while the market hasn't necessarily wanted obama to win, ll-othe se that we're seeing right now is not really about the election. it's more about the comments from the european central bank president that germany's economy is slowing. and that's really, suzanne,

what's weighing heavily on the market today. >> and we see with the balance of power here, it's pretty much status quo. republicans reasserting the majority in the house. senate still in democrats hands. we think that there's going to be some people suspect further gridlock here. we're looking at the possibility of these automatic spending cuts and tax increases known as the fiscal cliff. do we have a sense of how this is going to play out with the economy and the stock market? >> oh, yeah. you know, many analysts, suzanne, including the congressional budget office, they've been saying the u.s. economy will, no doubt, go into a recession if we go off this fiscal cliff. this is a combination of huge federal spending cuts and tax increases that all go into effect together. at the beginning of the year, unless congress does something. the problem is it would happen all at once. that sucks trillions out of the economy. it would shock the economy. it includes $55 billion in defense spending cuts. another $55 billion in nondefense. i am talking everything from

education to food inspection funding to air traffic safety. and then there's the tax increases because tax cuts will expire like the bush tax cuts, payroll tax holiday. all of that would go away. then there's more. there's that whole slew of tax credits or take a hit like the child tax credit, that would get cut in half. credits for higher education, those will expire altogether. so all this will happen unless, unless congress and the president can get their act together and stop it all from happening. suzanne? >> that's why there's so much pressure right now to see what both sides are going to do. the president as well as the republican leadership. and which side is going to blink first is how a lot of people have been putting it. appreciate it. wolf? >> social media blew up last night during the election and the most tweeted image of the night was a hug between the president and the first lady. bob, these projections... they're... optimistic.

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president obama has another reason to celebrate today. he just set a new record. he broke a twitter record. this photo of the president hugging the first lady michelle obama is the most retweeted post ever. it was retweeted, get this, more than 4 million times. favorited more than a million times. the president tweeted four more years and attached the picture on his official twitter account after he won last night. after getting battered by sandy, many new york and new jersey residents are being evacuated again. another big storm is headed right for them. we'll get the latest. i tried weight loss plans... but their shakes aren't always made for people with diabetes. that's why there's glucerna hunger smart shakes. they have carb steady, with carbs that digest slowly to help minimize blood sugar spikes. and they have six grams of sugars. with fifteen grams of protein to help manage hunger...

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and the candidate's speech is in pieces all over the district. the writer's desktop and the coordinator's phone are working on a joke with local color. the secure cloud just received a revised intro from the strategist's tablet. and while i make my way into the venue, the candidate will be rehearsing off of his phone. [ candidate ] and thanks to every young face i see out there. [ woman ] his phone is one of his biggest supporters. [ female announcer ] with cisco at the center... working together has never worked so well.

of all the pictures and instagrams circulating out there, wolf, pay attention to this now. there's something that we heard was going on with your beard. you want to share or should we just take a look. you take a look. >> you go ahead and share.

>> there it is. you see it. all right. realtime election results, beard only the kind that wolf can rock. they photo shopped the half red, half blue beard and, you know, i don't know. it's not like the empire state build bug it's pretty good. >> we're thinking about that. if i start growing it, maybe for 2016, suzanne, what do you think? >> that could work. stay neutral, purple the whole time and then make way with that. >> get that beard going. could be an indicator. red, blue, whatever is going on. >> all right. don't ask me to grow one, all right? that's all i ask. the voters have spoken. the results are in. we are looking ahead to what happens next now that president barack obama has won a second term in office. i'm suzanne malveaux at cnn world headquarters in atlanta. >> i'm wolf blitzer in washington. and this is cnn's special

coverage of america's choice 2012. we're looking at how president obama won and what the loss for the republican party means moving forward. in his victory speech, the president reached out to romney supporters. >> whether i earned your vote or not, i have listened to you. i have learned from you. and you've made me a better president. and with your stories and your struggles, i return to the white house more determined and more inspired than ever about the work there is to do and the future that lies ahead. >> for mitt romney it was the end of a long journey that fell short of his goal of winning the white house. his concession speech was part resignation, part regret. >> i so wish that i had been able to fulfill your hopes to lead the country in a different direction. but the nation chose another leader, and so ann and i join with you to earnestly pray for him and for this great nation.

>> but first, look at this. the dow now falling 294 points. in part because of the gridlock in congress that may continue. investors are concerned about the two parties being able to cross the aisle and stop the so-called fiscal cliff. that's the budget cuts, the tax increases that could go into effect as early as january. we're going to continue to check in throughout the hour. now that he's been re-elected, president obama facing some challenges, trying to bring together a divided nation, working with a divided congress. he also, of course, has to deal with the fiscal cliff. jill dougherty is at the white house to talk about this. we've already seen house speaker boehner. he's talked a little bit about reaching out to the president. he's going to be addressing this very much, the spending cuts, the tax hikes that automatically take into effect if congress doesn't essentially come up with another plan by the new year. he's going to talk about it at 3:30. do we have a sense if the president has a plan to reach out to boehner or even senator minority leader mitch mcconnell?

>> yeah, they have to. both sides have to reach out to each other because after all, now that the dust has settled, we're really back to the same quandary that we had before which is how are they going to resolve this before the cliff comes at the end of the year? and, of course, the president wants both elements, tax increases and spending cuts. for a long time there has been resistance from the republican side for those tax increases. but ultimately, the question is and some believe that there might be more room to negotiate and find common ground. but it feels like deja vu as we say all over again. and the implications internationally, though, are very serious. as they were before. what they are hoping is, even if that essential debate hasn't changed that much, the dynamics have. many people hope. and something could be accomplished. >> and you bring up a very good point, jill. we've seen this high stakes game

of chicken if you will, from both sides. certainly they are hoping that there's a new enthusiasm or tone in washington that will help them get beyond some of this. i notice the president as well said he was going to reach out to mitt romney. here's what he said last night. >> in the weeks ahead, i also look forward to sitting down with governor romney to talk about where we can work together to move this country forward. >> so, jill, what do we make of that? was he just being gracious here or do you think there's a real role for romney to play? >> i would have to say that there is more than just, you know, being polite or whatever. it really is crucial that right now, as you yourself pointed out, the president has to bring the country together because not only just for, you know, the symbolism of it, but because the gridlock will continue if they do not. one of the issues, though, is even if he were to shake hands,

which he will, and sit down with mr. romney, as everyone expects, will that be enough for the people who are on romney's side in the republican party who felt he was weak that he didn't go far enough, that they should continue the fight. and that's one of the issues, too. is this peace making enough for some people who want to go even further? >> all right. jill dougherty, interesting to see the role the tea party plays as well and how far they push the republicans as well as mitt romney. thank you jill. appreciate it. wolf? >> thank you. president obama certainly wasted no time reaching out to all americans last night in his victory speech. the president said what unites us is bigger than what divides us. >> i believe we can seize this future together. because we are not as divided as our politics suggest. we're not as cynical as the pundits believe. we are greater than the sum of our individual ambitions, and we remain more than a collection of

red states and blue states. we are and will forever be the united states of america. >> the president down playing polls that show a deep divide between whites and minorities, young and old, rich and poor. we have two experts to weigh in. republican strategist and cnn contributor marilyn matalin and van jones is here in washington. van, let me start with you. can this president do what he largely failed to do in the first four years, get a coalition going with republicans and get some bipartisan legislative achievement through. >> well, he absolutely can. first of all, i think there's a myth out there that he never tried. he put on the table, people forget, significant cuts. he put on the table tax cuts for 98% of americans, for small business. the republican congress made a

decision they didn't want to work with them. but he is still there. after all the filibusters, after all the superpac money, all the birther smears, he's still there. the better angels in the republican party can come forward and look at some of the stuff he put on the table earlier. but you have to remember, he's also strengthened. the republican party has now shown itself to be in this demographic cul-de-sac. they cannot win another national election until they reach out. so there's pressure on them also to reach across. i think that's good for the country. >> the republicans, mary, retained the decisive majority in the house of representatives. where do you see bipartisan cooperation going, if at all? >> certainly not initiated by this president. there's no record of that. van is completely wrong. he's completely erroneous and he was there when, i believe he was in the white house when the president said to eric cantor who came with all of the republican ideas in hand, elections have consequences, eric. and i won.

he didn't include any of those republican ideas. he had majorities in both chambers and he jammed through his own ogenda. and his campaign was marked by malice. his campaign was marked by malice and mendacity. it was full of derision and division and destruction and distraction and distortion. i don't see how he can -- how anyone would trust him, even democrats. he has mow mandate for anything. >> well, i think it's not true that he doesn't have a mandate. he said very clearly he thinks people that make more than $250,000 a year should pay more taxes. 60% to 70% of americans agree with him on that. so he has a mandate for that. the other thing i think is that, you know, he also was a victim of a lot of really nasty, i think, offensive attacks on him. we went through a dark ugly period in american politics the past two years. my hope is that we will get past some of the vitriol now. he is still there. the republicans are still there.

the problems are still here. and there is common ground. and i think we've got to recognize that the president is sounding the right tone. frankly, mitt romney sounded a much better tone than you just did, mary. i think people want to come together now. >> because, you know why, van? because romney is a gentleman. >> hold on, mary. you say the president doesn't have a mandate. he did win a majority of the popular vote, and he won decisively in the electoral college, especially if he wins florida and we haven't made a formal projection yet on florida but he's slightly ahead in florida. so why do you say he doesn't have a mandate? >> what is his mandate? what is his issue mandate, wolf? free contraception? penalizing rich people? the revenues he raises from that will kill jobs -- >> i balanced approach to deficit reduction. a balanced approach to -- >> that doesn't have anything to do with deficit reduction, van. that's what he said. it was a campaign of platitudes and it was divisive.

and it was destructive. >> we've got to be able to move past this now. >> and he did not have any issues mandated other than free contraceptions and taxing rich. he is the only president who has -- president in history who has a low-re-election margin and fewer electoral votes than his first time around. he won in a squeaker. >> this is the spirit that has turned the republican party into a -- this is the -- the dispirit you are showing is what i think we're trying to get away from now. i think the republican party has to make a decision. does it want to be a permanent minority party that has this vitriolic tone or does it want to try to find common ground where it's there. this president put tax cuts on the table, 98% tax cuts rebuffed by the republicans. he put on the table tax cuts for small business. this past year, rebuffed by the republicans. so i think the republicans have an opportunity to go back and look at those earlier offers and say, you know what, mr. president? we'll take you up on that. they don't have to move from

their own position. just vote for their own policies. >> very quickly, mar reerk because we've got to go. >> what? it's four years of distortion, division, derision and it's going to be four more. but luckily, the house of representatives and romney laid out a foundation for reform agenda going forward, which will be -- which will be grounded in the house of representatives. i'm proud of mitt romney. he's a gentleman. he was courageous. ran a campaign of conviction and he should be proud of himself, unlike the democrats who really, really have excelled at the politics of personal disy destruction. >> i think you'll get a debate from a lot of people on that. mary matalin, van jones. that conversation, obviously, only just beginning. suzanne? >> thanks, wolf. here's what we're working on. four more years of president obama, but how does he move forward with gridlock now in congress? >> i believe we can seize this

future together because we are not as divided as our politics suggest. >> he continues to talk the talk. is he going to really walk the walk? plus his name was on the ballot in 48 states. libertarian gary johnson on how democrats and republicans can find common ground. and almost 2 million people were without power in the northeast after being hit by hurricane sandy. now another nor'easter is heading their way. oh no, not a migraine now. try this... bayer? this isn't just a headache.

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one of the big concerns in the united states, the fiscal cliff, this car representing the united states facing a major hazard ahead. if the car continues to ignore the warnings, spending cuts will come into effect. tax cuts will expire after december 31st. all of it worth $7 trillion. at the same time, the so-called alternative minimum tax rate expires. pushing millions of people into a higher income tax level. and if the payroll tax holiday expires it raises the social security tax on earnings. finally if the unemployment benefit extension expires it cuts the amount of time that job seekers can actually claim benefits. in essence it is going to cost us a lot of money. to help understand what might happen in the future, joining

us, economists and former labor secretary robert reich. also the author of "beyond outrage," what has gone wrong with our economy and democracy and how to fix it. robert, good to see you, as always. you have been somebody who worked, obviously, with democrats but you've also been critical. you are very much considered a moderate voice when it comes to the economy here. explain to us how does the president get out of this scenario here. he's got to satisfy his pledge. he's not going to raise taxes on the middle class. just those making more than $250,000 or above. but he also has to reform those entitlement programs these republicans demand. how would you advise him? >> suzanne, the real problem with the fiscal cliff is that it's too much deficit reduction too quickly. i think there is bipartisan understanding that the long-term deficit does have to be reduced. but when you take $500 billion to $600 billion out of the economy in terms of tax increases and spending cuts, all

that quickly, you are going to push us into recession. what the president has to do is seek as much bipartisan support as he possibly can for a grand bargain of some sort with regard to deficit reduction. but the critical piece of that is that the deficit reduction does not begin until the economy is out of the woods. >> and when does that happen? give us a timetable here if you can be a little more specific. >> i could actually -- i would, you know, if somebody asked me, i recommend there be a trigger built right into that grand bargain. that immediately upon two consecutive quarters of 6% or less unemployment and 3% or more economic growth, then you have immediately major deficit reduction. but you don't have deficit reduction before you get those two consecutive quarters of 6% unemployment. otherwise you have a danger of following europe into a kind of austerity trap. >> does the president, can he afford simply to raise taxes on

the very wealthy, or does he need to tax the middle class? does he need that base, that monetary base to get the economy growing again? >> again, broad consensus that with regard to the final grand bargain, over deficit reduction, there's got to be mostly tax increases on the wealthy. that's what most of the polls tell us, not just democrats but also republicans. there may also have to be a tax increase on the middle class, but again, you don't want to do that when the economy is still having high unemployment and a lot of under utilized capacity. >> talk a little bit about the treasury secretary. we know timothy geithner says he's not likely to do a second term and they are already looking at some possibilities. we love this inside washington parlor game if you will, to see who might be up for the job. the white house budget director jack lew played a key role last year if the deficit reduction talks. another person mentioned, larry finks of blackrock, one of the world's largest investment

firms. gary gensler, chairman of the commodity computfutures trading commission and gene spirling. who would you advise? >> well, they are all very able people. i think jack lew has the inside track, and i've worked with jack lew. he's extraordinarily bright. he understands the budget inside and out. he has a very subtle understanding of fiscal and also monetary policy. i think jack would be probably the best choice for the president at this point in time. >> all right. you wouldn't consider coming back, would you? >> if somebody asked, absolutely. if the president asked me, i'd be back in a minute. >> all right. there you go. thanks again. wolf? >> thanks, suzanne. his bid for president was a long shot but that didn't stop the libertarian candidate gary johnson, the future of this third party movement, gary johnson. he's standing by to join us live. and that is next.

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in case you didn't realize, president obama and mitt romney, not the only candidates for

president on the ballot yesterday. third party candidate gary johnson made it on 48 ballots, as well at d.c. he appeared on "the daily show" to talk about it. >> the libertarians, very interesting because democrats and republicans both seem to agree with half of it. >> yeah. >> but the opposite halves. it's one of those friendship necklaces that has like the half. and each one has a half. they put it together. oh, my god, i'm libertarian. >> i think so. the notion that most people in this country are fiscally responsible, socially tolerant, i'm in that group. >> turns out that johnson actually picked up 1% of the vote on election day. that is about 1,147,000 votes. gary johnson is joining us from albuquerque, new mexico. good to see you. you were the republican governor of new mexico for two terms. ran as a libertarian for president this go around. you probably just heard the interview that we saw that wolf did with van jones, the democrat on the left, mary matalin on the

right. and still some bitterness, some contention over this race. a divided country. how do these two parties, what do these two parties do to get something done and to put away some of the vitriol? >> well, how about the notion of coming together? romney, you know, not as conservative on dollars and cents as republicans would like. but when it comes to social agenda and i'm talking now about romney and republicans, i think for the most part, it scares people. and then democrats, you know what? they could be a lot better on civil liberties, and they could acknowledge that there have to be some cuts that really do have to take place. so it really is combining the best of both worlds. it's reflective. it needs to be reflective of the majority of americans which really are fiscally responsible and socially accepting which i think there's an opportunity here.

look. let's stop the wars. let's stop with the military interventions. let's stop the growing police state. and then let's stop what is unsustainable spending, which is both parties that need to come together, like i say. i just think that's more reflective of americans than either of the two parties are. >> so, gary, do you think that's an opening for you, and other third party candidates? do you think that's the role it plays here. does it underscore your importance of being in this contest? >> well, during this contest, i was really kind of taken aback. i thought we would have done a lot better. i think maybe one of the analysis here is that people really did buy into the notion that their votes counted and that everybody needed to go vote for, if you will, the lesser of two evils. but that's gone by the wayside. now we do need to move forward. and moving forward, look, we've got some really important issues in this country that start with

cutting spending. lest we have a monetary collapse. let's stop with the military interventions which also add to that spending, and then we do have a growing police state in this country. i was really heartened by the fact that yesterday colorado passed initiative 64. something that i think most republicans right now would still vote to criminal -- >> that's the marijuana use. >> to criminal penalty -- >> yeah, marijuana use. that republicans, for the most part, i think, would still like to enhance criminal penalties in lieu of rolling them back. and colorado spoke very clearly. i think that passing -- regulating marijuana like alcohol, i think it's going to change worldwide drug policy when we wake up tomorrow and realize that the world is a better place when police can actually go out and enforce real crime. coloradans get it. six years ago, citizens of denver voted to decriminalize marijuana on a campaign based on

marijuana being safer than alcohol. but ius get back to the social issues that republicans scare the world with and spending that democrats scare the world with. >> we know -- >> how about each side back off a little bit. >> we notice it was colorado n washington state, both of them who did approve those ballot initiatives in legalizing marijuana use. when you say the social issues that scare people, what your talking about specifically? are you talking about some of those members of congress who were making comments about rape and abortion and linking it to -- in those terms? >> well, sure, sure. well, women's rights, immigration. look. immigration is a good thing. it's something that's value added, and it's something that does need to be addressed. marriage equality. look. i think it's a constitutionally guaranteed right. but how about the notion of giving a little bit on these issues or holding your own personal conviction but don't make these convictions

government policy. you know, lest people not vote for you. that's the bottom line. i think that people were scared off by -- people are scared off by republicans' social agenda and then when it comes to romney and i'm going to get at the root cause of why i don't think he was elected. you know what? he really wasn't talking a different game than it came to obama when it came to spending. during the last debate with ryan and biden. >> gary, real quick question -- why do you suppose, just real quickly here why do you suppose, you were hoping for 5%. you got 1%. and you are trying to compromise, bring these two parties in some sort of moderate stance. why is not the third party candidate, your candidacy, gaining more traction? >>really, a disafrks pointment and a surprise. historically, polling really evaporates. historically third party votes evaporate at the very end, and i

saw that same phenomenon. and very disappointing. i can only chalk it up to the fact that people really took to heart the fact that their vote was going to count and, you know, lesser of two evils as opposed to -- there's a lot more support out there for what i'm saying than i think was reflected in votes. >> gary johnson, thank you so much for joining us. we really appreciate it. >> thank you very much for having me on. >> sure. wolf? >> suzanne, they are still counting the votes in florida at this hour. can you believe it? they are almost finished counting the ballots in miami-dade county. and they expect to finish up the rest later in the afternoon. remember, florida's past election problems. you who can forget. here's where the vote stands in florida with most precincts reporting. but even if mitt romney were to win the state's 29 electoral votes it would not be enough to make the difference. so why is the state so behind in vote counting right now? here's one reason. thousands of voters were still in line hours after the polls

closed. also, election officials say an extremely high number of absentee ballots needed to be counted. they also say they won't finish counting provisional ballots until thursday or friday. we're patient. we'll see the final result. it's been more than a week since superstorm sandy devastated parts of the northeast. still, millions of people are without power and now another nor'easter is threatening the area. if you are one of the millions of men

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log on now to androgeloffer.com and you could pay as little as ten dollars a month for androgel 1.62%. what are you waiting for? this is big news. the people hammered by superstorm sandy have not suffered enough. trying to just recover, there's a new storm that is about to make matters a lot worse. here's what we know right now. 179 people have died since the storm started its track across the caribbean last week. includes 110 deaths here in the united states. more than 250,000 customers still without power in new

jersey and new york. now there is a freezing cold nor'easter expected to complicate power restoration. snow already falling in connecticut right now. heavy rain, coastal floods, mix of snow. it's going to sweep through new york and new jersey in a few hours. i'm sure to add to misery, the families you are seeing there. they are going to get some help from fema. just approved more than $156 million to help the folks in new york. rob marciano is joining us from staten island. rob, explain to us what you are seeing there. i understand you are actually at a home who -- i guess the first floor completely gutted from the storm. and this nor'easter is coming. >> yeah, you know, it's been over a week now, suzanne. and these poor people on staten island, obviously, new jersey, long island, even connecticut, a lot of them have just been surviving day-to-day. temperatures have been getting colder and colder and colder. for many of them, the feeling of getting, as i talked to them, they are just kind of beat down. and with this now snow coming in

and the potential for another flood coming in this afternoon and tonight with the storm surge from this nor'easter, that's just heartbreaking stuff. so this is one of the many streets near staten island that was completely inundated by the storm sandy. you see all sorts of debris pulled outside of homes. lines the entire streets. personal belongings. for many of these homes, water up to shoulder height if not more than that. i want to bring you inside. this is nick's home. he's lived here at least 20 years. and took an entire week now gutting was was incredibly damaged walls and flooring in through here. actually been staying here because the night they left for the storcm, this whole neighborhood was looted. fearing that happening again, they're going to stay in here. hey, nick? >> yeah. >> so there's nick, his wife. the neighbors, the community is helping out quite a bit. you are working on just trying to get heat tonight? >> me and my buddy mike, trying

to get the salamander working but it's got a fitting that's 5/16 fine thread and can't find it nowhere. >> we can hear the exhaustion in your voice. we talked earlier about how devastating this is. try to put into words what you've experienced this week. >> everything that i own is here, and i'm trying to save it. my wife, my kids, my best friend mike. and i'm just going to lose everything. i mean, my body is shutting d n down. there's no words to explain or express the stress, the pain, the suffering. and i just want to get back so that i can provide for my kids to send my kids to college. if i can just get this place

livable, not even -- i would live with insulation on the walls so that i don't lose my house right now. my house is everything i have. and the most important thing is right now is to get my kids through college. >> so nick was telling me earlier -- thank you, nick. obviously you are busy and emotionally and physically trying. words can't even summarize what he and his family feel right now. but just a little back story there. four kids by my count. at least one in college. u.p.s. -- work forwaed for u.p. 20 years. just retired. real good mechanic. bought all sorts of equipment to start a business. much of that equipment completely damaged if not destroyed by this storm. heartbreaking stuff, suzanne. and his story, just one of many that is happening here across the borough of staten island.

>> his story is very heartbreaking. you just stop in your tracks and you hold on to every word. he clearly is suffering. does he feel like in some way he'sreparedr this weather that is going to be about to hit him and his community again? >> not at all. they feel a little bit helpless but they take some comfort in get something information when we arrived on the scene. obviously, the information is not very free flowing when you don't have power. they are actually plugged into our truck and another satellite hout, helping them out with some generation just to get some light on the situation. they were hearing at least an eight-foot surge coming in here. that would be devastating. the berm that was protecting them, much of that damage washed away. the shore line completely changed. so a lot of this along with jersey and long island, more on protecting than it ever has been. they took a little comfort in getting information from me and that they'll probably not have much more than three or four-foot storm surge and that will not nearly do the damage that sandy did but hopefully won't even flood these streets.

we'll have to wait and see in to the next two high tide cycles. his words tell it all. your heart goes out to these people. >> trying to find a way to help him and his community there. thank you, rob. we appreciate it. for supporters it was hugs, high-fives after the president's re-election. but traders on the stock market not having the same reaction. stocks are now selling off. ♪ i wish my patients could see what i see. ♪ that over time,

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fresh from elections and now we're watching a major market sell-off. the dow has plunged below 13,000 today. allison cossick over at the new york stock exchange. why is this happening, alison? >> first of all, i'll put it in perspective. the losses are certainly stabilizing. we're all the lows of the session. the dow down 268 points. before it was off more than 300 points. and the sell-off, wolf, not so much about the election. it's more so about some comments

from the european central bank president mario draghi that germany's economy is slowing and that's what's spooking investors. we are watching oil prices drop 3.5%. part of the reason for that, low demand because of the worry about slowing economies. the other part of it is an unexpected increase in supply which should come as welcome news to many of us still worrying about whether there's a gas issue in the northeast part of the country. wolf? >> i assume investors, alison, also worried about the fiscal cliff. unless they resolve this by the end of the year, there could be severe economic dislocations. >> oh, yeah. there's a huge worry about this. many have been saying if we do go over this fiscal cliff that the u.s. economy will go into a recession. this is a combination of these huge federal spending cuts and tax increases that all go into effect unless xng does something about it. it will suck trillions of dollars right out of the economy. would be a huge shock to the system because it includes $55 billion in defense spending cuts, another $55 billion in

nondefense and i haven't mentioned the taxes. the taxes in this country will go up because tax cuts will expire like the bush tax cuts, tax holiday. i'm talking about income taxes and capital gains taxes. all of that would go up unless congress and the president can get their act together and stop it all from happening. that's what wall street is going to be focused on until the end of the year. and the way wall street sees it, the way everybody sees it is they'd like to see a deal sooner rather than later especially for a lot of companies. a lot of companies are holding off on hiring because they don't know what the tax situation is going to be next year. and that is eating into any recovery in the jobs market that we're seeing. >> knowing washington, as i do, i'd be surprised if it's sooner rather than later. usually if there's a deal, it's always later. in fact if there's going to be a deal, probably the last moment before that fiscal cliff happens. let's hope they can get their act together and do something. appreciate it, alison. >> sure. it was a night of firsts.

besides president obama's historic win, wisconsin elected the first openly gay senator. >> i didn't run to make history. i ran to make a difference. i was on maternity leave. i have retired from doing this one thing that i loved. now, i'm going to be able to have the time to explore something different. it's like another chapter.

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it's here -- the greatest malibu ever. ♪ the balance of power in congress and the president may not have changed in this election, but there were some historic changes. wisconsin elected the country's first openly gay senator, tammy baldwin. the seven-term congresswoman beat former wisconsin governor tommy thompson with 51% of the vote. here's what she said about her victory this morning on cnn. >> what i would say in terms of crashing through that glass ceiling is, if you aren't in the room, the conversation is about you. if you are in the room, the conversation is with you. and that does transform things. but as i said last night, i didn't run to make history. i ran to make a difference. >> another historic moment for the first time, new hampshire will have an all-female congressional delegation and a

female governor. another big gain for women in hawaii. voters there elected their first female senator. she is also the first u.s. senator born in japan. so, wolf, a lot of progress there going on. >> good to have more women coming to washington. nice work all around. the balance of power in congress shows little change, but one difference is the number of women joining the ranks. we have more on this. raise your rate cd. tonight our guest, thomas sargent. nobel laureate in economics, and one of the most cited economists in the world. professor sargent, can you tell me what cd rates will be in two years? no. if he can't, no one can. that's why ally has a raise your rate cd. ally bank. your money needs an ally.

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votes are still being counted in several congressional races. we'll bring you the results as soon as they come in. one thing already very clear, the newly elected congress is still fiercely divided. dana bash is here. let's talk about the senate right now. show us the breakdown. >> that's right. let's just look at what the senate looks like currently at this point. a 47 republicans, 51 democrats,

two independents and this represents all of the seats. now, let's check out what it is going to look like in january. you can see the blue seats kind of encroached over here on the red seats. that's not what republicans had intended. they're very stunned today and quite depressed and look up here at the numbers, democrats not only have 52 solid seats, they also have two independents who will likely both caucus with them. so it is certainly a surprise to republicans because going into yesterday they felt pretty confident that it would get some of these democratic seats. 23 were up for grabs. 23 democratic seats were on defense, so to speak. and it certainly didn't happen. one interesting note, a lot of these blue seats, one of the red ones, represent women. they're going to be the largest number of female senators in history. so far 19 and we have one outstanding race, i shouldn't forget to mention that, that's north dakota. heidi heitkamp is a democrat, rig berg is a republican.

we'll see what happens there. >> angus king, said today, though, he wants to meet with harry reid, wants to meet with mitch mcconnell and make his final decision. he's the newly elected senator from maine. harry reid already talking today, though, about the fiscal cliff. there is no rest for the weary. this is going to be intense between now and december 31st. >> big time. the deadline is nearing at the end of the year and, you're right, harry reid came out to reporters at noon today, noon eastern, and he was very deliberate in his tone. he was very calm, tried to seem very conciliatory but also said, look, we, from his perspective, got a mandate. >> i'm going to do everything within my power to be as conciliatory as possible. i want to work together. but i want everyone to also understand you can't push us around. we want to work together. >> so we want to work together, he said it's better to dance

than to fight, but the same time he said he believes that what the exit polls showed was that most americans do not want the wealthiest americans to continue to get a tax cut and that's their position we're going to hear from the house speaker john boehner in an hour and a half. they're actually setting up a teleprompter for him now. i've never seen him do that in that kind of environment. he clearly wants to have a message and get it out and get it out right. >> we'll be watching. 3:30 p.m. eastern, right? >> you got it. >> dana, thanks very much. get ready, you'll be busy between now and december 31st. >> busy people all around. the ballot box shows american's shifting attitude about same sex marriage. we'll show you where voters are now saying yes. i have a cold, and i took nyquil, but i'm still "stubbed" up. [ male announcer ] truth is, nyquil doesn't unstuff your nose. what? [ male announcer ] it doesn't have a decongestant. no way. [ male announcer ] sorry. alka-seltzer plus fights your worst cold symptoms plus has a fast acting decongestant to relieve your stuffy nose. [ sighs ] thanks! [ male announcer ] you're welcome.

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u.s. election is certainly making headlines around the world today from egypt to europe. our reporters are fanned across

the globe with reaction. >> i'm ben wedeman in cairo. most egyptians seem to prefer barack obama over mitt romney. many of them saying they thought the republicans are simply too pro israeli. but for most egyptians, there is so much going on in this country after the revolution, what with a faltering economy, and an uncertain political future. >> reporter: i'm fred platkin in berlin, germany. germans are by and large happy with the outcome of the election. barack obama would have gotten 90% of the vote here in this country. >> reporter: i'm reza sayah in pakistan. four years ago many here supported mr. obama. not the case this year. many wanted change. they wanted mr. romney and that's because they still don't like u.s. policy in the region, especially the drone strikes. >> americans have weighed in on several important ballot initiatives. take a look at this. for the first time voters in maine approved a measure giving

same sex couples the right to marry. maryland voters made history by upholding a new law legal lelizing same sex marriages in that state. minnesota voters rejected a ban on same sex marriage, a similar measure in washington state is still too close to call. it is the first time voters have approved same sex marriages. in the past, only judges and state legislatures legalized the unions. legalizing marijuana another issue on ballot in several states. voters in washington state and colorado approved the recreational use of marijuana. but a similar measure in oregon was rejected. a critical part of president obama's health care reform law was on the line in several states. alabama, wyoming, backed measures, amending the state constitutions to ban people from being forced to buy health insurance. and early results suggest montana voters may follow suit. but check this out. florida has rejected a similar challenge to obama care. cnn special election coverage